Monday, July 26, 2010

Check it out! When I heard they were making a "Facebook movie," like most people I thought it was going to be some silly teen flick where the main character's life is flung wildly out of control by Facebook, a la Patrick Dempsey in "Can't Buy me Love." OK, maybe I'm the only person who thought that, but regardless, it turns out that "The Social Network" is actually about the founding of Facebook, which is an interesting story, and it takes place in Boston when I was going to college there, so double win.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Something weird is happening on FX. Louis CK (so adorable as Leslie Knope's former boyfriend on Parks and Rec) is writing and directing a social commentary piece disguised as a comedy. It is very funny...with clips of Louie's stand-up mixed with scripted material about his life and his kids and his terrible body. But then there's stuff like the clip below, which is actually saying something in a really interesting way (WARNING: Language NSFW):

I just find things like this so interesting. It's like when Rescue Me became a theater piece for awhile last season. It's nice to see there are places on cable really pushing the envelope and "saying something." It's like it negates all the terrible things MTV has to offer on it's entire lineup.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

What a crap year for summer movies. Last night I was considering going to my local cineplex to see what Hollywood had to offer, and there was seriously nothing worth the cost of entry.

No.

Here is what was playing:

Get Him to the Greek: Jonah Hill annoys me and my jury is still out on Russell Brand.

Knight and Day: I have actually considered seeing this, because it includes a chase scene through Boston, but reviews have been bad.

The A-Team: I seem to remember the A-Team riding around in a van. Ads for this movie had them jumping out of airplanes into helicopters. Haven’t you warpedmy childhoodenough, Hollywood?The Last Airbender: Time to hang it up, M. Night.

Twilight: Eclipse: One of these days I am probably going to break down and get into Twighlight. But not today. Not today!!!

Toy Story 3: I’ve actually heard good things about this, but I still haven’t seen Toy Story 2, so …

Grown Ups: This will be my hell.

Splice: While I do heart Adrien Brody, I don’t heart craptastic horror.The Karate Kid: See my feelings on TheA-Team.

I saw this coming, of course. Back in May, I read a summer movie preview and realized there was almost nothing I wanted to see. But I’m still a bit slack jawed at the festering garbage dump that is this year’s summer season. I saw an art house flick called Winter’s Bone that was pretty good, but in typical art house fashion it’s a small movie and a total downer. I like my summer movies to be big and loud but also entertaining and inventive. Most of these movies go the “big” and “loud” parts right, but little else.

Maybe this fall will bring better fare. Oh, what’s that you say? The fall lineup includes a seventh Saw movie and the third installment in the Meet the Parents saga called Little Fockers? That’s it. I’m moving to France.

I would give "Treme" a ton of acting nominations, but I don’t think it was quite there yet for a Best Drama nod. Ironically, it will probably get nominated this year because the Emmy people have been so deeply shamed over never nominating "The Wire." This is how the entertainment industry works.

If "Two and a Half Men" gets nominated for anything, I’m boycotting this year’s awards.

What do you guys think?

* I haven’t actually seen the most recent season of Dexter, but I’ve heard its as good as the last few, and I’ve loved the last few. Its time the entire show – and not just Michael C. Hall – got some love.

** I’ve only seen a few episodes of this show, but I did enjoy it, and what’s more is it’s cool to see a really well done show become so popular, as opposed to the usual garbage that everyone watches.

*** Yes, I’m nominating it for both drama and comedy, because three years in, I honestly can’t decide which one is supposed to be. And I mean that in a good way.